Paranormal Movies Based on True Stories

Considering this a website based on horror movies we thought it was about time we looked at a few paranormal movies based on true stories.

I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve sat through cool horror movies only to be told a few days later they were based on actual events.

I personally think the directors miss a trick whenever they fail to include the ‘Based on Actual Events’ caption at the start of a film – makes the whole thing even more frightening ( in my book! ).

So lets take a look at my choice of ‘top’ horror flicks that were based on true events…

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

This is a reasonably well known 2005 release that did quite well in terms of box office returns. The name ‘Emily Rose’ is nothing more than a Hollywood fabrication but the name Anneliese Michel is certainly not.

Yes – the film was based on the events surrounding the possession of Anneliese Michel (not Emily Rose!).

Anneliese Michel was a very ill girl and she was (wrongly) diagnosed with having grand mal seizures. Her family pretty much new this was bulls**t when she started attacking them.

Whenever a religious object was place near the bedridden Anneliese she would start exhibiting some very strange behaviors. Screaming at the objects whilst foaming at the mouth, writhing about in pain and even drinking her own urine!

In the end a ton of priests were brought in and the poor girl was subjected to multiple exorcisms. There’s no proof to her being possessed and she later died in 1976 of pneumonia.

Luckily enough we found an piece of audio footage on YouTube from one of Anneliese’s actual exorcism attempts. It’s definitely NOT for the fainthearted…

The Conjuring

Out of all the paranormal movies based on true stories I have come across I had no idea this mind blowing film was one of them. I loved the film but I was completely unaware that the two paranormal investigators in it, Ed and Lorraine Warren, were based on real people!

The pair of them were known to have helped out with the ‘real life’ Amityville house incidents. The conjuring was based on their experiences with a haunted farmhouse.

The Exorcist

The ‘daddy’ of them all! When this film first came out in the UK there were ambulances parked outside certain cinemas to combat the nervous breakdowns of certain cinema-goers!

The Exorcist was written by William Peter Blatty who got the idea from an article he had read whilst studying in college.

This article covered the exorcism of a 13 year old boy in Mount Rainier, Maryland in 1949. It’s pretty hard to find exact details on the boy due to the fact the family wanted obvious privacy.

The film obviously used a girl as the victim instead of a boy but the story is directly linked to this 1949 incident!

The Entity

I first watched this film when my parents were out of the house one Sunday – I was only about 10 if I remember correctly!

Anyway – I didn’t enjoy it! The sexual nature of the tale went straight over my head due to my age ( obviously! ).

I sat down to watch it again about ten years later and that was a whole different experience.

The real story of The Entity starts in 1974 when paranormal researchers Kerry Gaynor and Barry Taff investigated the case of a woman believed to be named Doris Bither.

Bither claimed that she was constantly being sexually abused by some sort of demon entity in her home. The pair of paranormal researchers found this more than interesting so they took it upon themselves to find out what was happening.

The result of the investigation were astonishing! Both Gaynor and Taff experienced poltergeist activity and even managed to snap shots of floating lights within the family home.

They also claimed that when the investigation neared a close they witnessed a humanoid shape appear in the same room as them!

When Doris Bither finally had enough and moved house the attacks stopped immediately…

Your Favorites?

These are my favorite paranormal movies based on true stories but I’m fully aware there are a lot more out there! Over the years there have been some real spine tingling true stories shown on the silver screen.

Why not join in the conversation and include your favorite true horror movies in the comment section below…